J.K. Rowling has
opposed proposals to introduce age banding on books, similar to that of films and video games. The plans are set to be in force by the autumn, but many authors have spoken out against the idea.
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“I am absolutely delighted that JK Rowling has added her support to the campaign,” said the novelist Anne Fine. “But I’m not surprised, because we all know that the reading age for her novels is extremely wide.”
The campaign was set up by Phillip Pullman who set up the website
No to age banding which has so far garnered more than 2,500 signatures in support. Jo signed the petition yesterday. Other names on there include; Anthony Horowitz, Terry Pratchett and Alan Garner, Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen.
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The petition argues that imposing an age-guidance figure on children’s books is “ill- conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers and highly unlikely to make the slightest difference to sales.”
The petition’s supporters also contend that printing age ranges on books would threaten literacy levels. Reluctant readers or those with dyslexia, for example, might easily be embarrassed if caught with books clearly labelled as being aimed at much younger readers.
Ten publishers, including Bloomsbury (the British publishers of
Harry Potter) and Walker Books have supported the authors opposition whilst Random House, Scholastic (the U.S. publishers of
Harry Potter) and Egmont have expressed their support for the proposals. The rest of the industry - including Puffin, Orion and Macmillan - have supported the plans based on author-approved age banding.
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“Would those queues for Harry Potter have been so long if the books had had a ‘Teens’ sticker?” award-winning Edinburgh-based writer Keith Gray asks. “Younger readers wouldn’t have bothered with it and neither would most of the grown-ups.
“The whole age-banding thing is a nonsense, and I’m very pleased JK Rowling is supporting the campaign against it.”